Just awful. I almost stayed home today. I didn't get sleep due to work, my nutritional timing was from arse, mental preparedness was from arse. I thought I would just go and do the main lifts and get the hell out. That I did with two high rep sets of dips and rows. I had to go to the commercial gym today since there was some weightlifting competitions in the main gym. Good thing I have two free gyms to go to. Too bad the other is this machine filled sterile gym with stationary bikes with tv-screens build in. The bench there is horrible, you can't get the bar set properly, it's either too low or too high. Which kills my setup. That plus my feeling, the sets were horrible. The form was bad, the reps were grinding. I pushed my luck, shoul've gone with lower weights that day.

So yeah, time to test 1RM's. Why? I'm going to a hockey camp for two weeks next week, so I will most likely not work out with normal routines. It's been 10 weeks or so with the current split anyway. Secondly, when I come back, I will start 5/3/1 routine and supplementing creatine. I want to see the results those two will make, which means I need to know where I'm going at the moment. If the 5/3/1 gets me results (will try it for atleast 4-6 months), I will keep it going. The same thing for creatine. I'm eager to see if it's worth the hype.

Front squats are almost at the level of 1.5 x BW. Which is very positive for me. I feel that my core has gotten a lot stronger by doing front squats. But it still is the limiting factor. I failed due to depth, I just wouldn't have gotten back up from the low point. So might there also be something in the hips too? I feel it would have fallen forward if I had gone deeper, but still. If my core was stronger, would I still have gotten the rep? Who knows. Will continue doing the front squats, I'm starting to like them too. Lot safer to do alone, and like squats and deadlifts always do, they give you this awesome euphoric and accomplished feeling after a rewarding completed rep.

No progress on Overhead press during this time. No wonder tho, I minored the exercises and focused on the volume instead. Will maybe bring it back on 531 tho. The form was way better than 10 weeks ago. Also, 50kg felt like nothing, which caused quite the suprise when the 55kg didn't rise with the first try. Well, I knew I could get it up, focused and rested for 5 minutes, grabbed the bar and smoked the weight. I'm happy with it even though there was no progress.

That was friggin awesome. The best workout in my humble history. I felt so awesome when I got the 150k finally up. I've failed on it before, and the 145kg wasn't easy either. I focused and collected all the attitude and really wanted to get that bloody weight up. And I did. It was a grinder and had some warcry along the way, but it steadily rose to the lockout. No sticking points, no nothing. Just awesomeness. I just sat down for a lot of minutes, looked at the weights and never felt happier. Then few tiny core-sets and out I went. There was nothing else in the gym I needed to do. Nothing.

So no records on the bench today. I was supposed to have a friend come to workout with me, and to spot and assist, but our schedules didn't match. Nevertheless, I got the 80kg up quite easily, there's just one problem that keeps me from not going higher. It's my leg drive. I can't control my legs enough, they always end up extending the ankles and hip and thus getting the butt off the seat. Which is not cool. This time it only lifted a little, but it's something the 531 will give me time to work at.

I'll pull one longer story on my comments -section soon enough. Anywho, a good workout, snatches were tougher and and Deadlift locked up quite easily. Could have gotten 9 or 10 on the last set, but better not go total balls to walls immediately. I haven't done high-rep deadlifts in ages anyway.

Had some form toning on the bench, the last set was hardcore. I aimed over ten reps, and got it. Pull-ups were suprsisingly strong also, got ten good reps. Not sternum to bar, but chin over bar. The superset was crazy as always.

Didn't have the usual platform this time on the box jumps, but I'm seeing it being a bit higher than last time. I don't have a clue what happened in the front squats. 5kg more weight than last week, still the same rep amount on the last set. Awesome, felt really good. Wether it was the nutrition, creatine, attitude or 531, I'm happy either way. Glute bridges are progressing fast, thinking of adding 10kg straight away. The one-armed planks are my antirotation choise for the following weeks. I made a weird observation at the hockey camp last week. I was at the gym doing plank rows, got like 5-8 reps on my right side, but my left side was completely bombed, made only a couple reps and failed. Then I realised how much I stress and activate the right side of my core when shooting with the goalie stick on ice. The activation is quite big. Imagine me doing that for ten years several times a week. Talk about a imbalance and weakness. Time to properly train the left rotators/anti-rotators as well. These are hardcore, and felt right where they should've felt.

Got a great result on the overhead press again. Same reps as last weeks 42.5kg. Something is definately working on this block. Then did some shoulder prehab and rows plus core work. Getting great depth progression on rollouts, and rows are improving fast. Still, this is by far the easiest workout in this program. But that's okay with me, it's better to keep the shoulders more healthy. There still is two balls to walls sets in this workout, so it's not that easy. Only overall.

Yep, it must be the creatine. I mean, 7kg more weight on the deadlift but only one rep shy? The OA plank was almost easier this week, even though I added 5sec to each set. I dropped the single-leg RDL. It just burns my lower back, no matter what I do. Will film it next week.

Great benching again. Still a bit searching the best form and especially foot positioning and back work. There's huge contraction and tightness on the back extensors during bench. I quess that's a good thing. It's not unpleasent. Got a nice 10, with one or two left in the tank. The crazy one-rep calculator by exrx and Wendler claim that my bench 1RM is up over 6kg. Which is madness, I'd be pressing almost 90kg within two weeks of Creatine use and 531. Needless to say I have 0 trust to these calculators. Or the average percentage rep scheme (i.e you can do five reps with 87% of your 1RM). Everybodys different.

Pull-up record is now 4. The ultimate goal is 10. We are heading there. Trying to aim for clean reps. Also I decided to do 4 weeks of bodyweight accessories on bench day. I have always sucked at push-ups, especially with the most correct form. Hence, lots of reps. Inverted rows are just plain hard. Will be learning them for some time.

Thinking of changing the plyometric in the beginning, the Cm box jumps seem to stall. Will look into it.Front Squat were good, felt weak and dehydrated all the way to work set number 2. The, a bit of a mental shift and rocked 5 reps with 95kg. I'm happy with the result.

Glute bridges are light again, will do 5x12 next week, then go heavier. After I reach numbers over BW, I think I would move on to hip thrusts.

Plank rows were a lot easier than the last time I did them. If I remember correctly, I was only able to do 4-5 reps. Excellent. Very demanding to the core, a great anti-rotation exercise.

This was a good workout. 5 on overhead press +1 is great, two weeks ago I got 6 with 42kg, so not bad. I've found the right mindset and attitude for these max lifts. That's what's cool. I crank up the volume in the headphones, take time to the bar, gather rage and power, and lift. The weight has never felt lighter. The difference between 42kg and 47kg was huge. The last set just flew up with a flow and no fatique. Only on the fifth set the back was starting to overextend and I cut the set there.

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